BRATTLEBORO — Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” as 2016's International Word of the Year.
What does this mean for us, tucked away up here in southern Vermont?
How are we to think about the diminishing relevance of, and even outright hostility toward, truth, accuracy, and reality?
What do we have to offer a world that appears bent on neutralizing and even eliminating truth as a causal element in our society?
While the term “war on” is applied to myriad subjects, from the real discrimination against women to the imagined assault on Christmas, I find that a “war on reality” is indeed being waged.
People of conscience are on the front line, in the crosshairs of those who find reality an annoying inconvenience in the way of their power and profits.
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This phenomenon is nothing new. Holocaust denial has been the patently false groupthink of a lunatic fringe since the Shoah itself. It's no surprise that as wild, virulent post-truth fictions move to dominate mainstream thought, Holocaust denial has seeped from a seedy sideshow to the main stage of far too many popular political manipulators and delusional media stars.
This same thinking innovates as well.
Professional conspiracy theorist Alex Jones declared the Sandy Hook massacre a government fake. The president-elect of the United States of America fostered this folly, boasting to Jones, “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”
This endorsement is deeply unsettling at best. Please do not try to apply reason in discussion with those who promulgate these lurid fantasies. Asking them to think only confuses and infuriates them further.
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What are we to do?
One thing we cannot do is stand idly by and watch the summary execution of reality and truth, and their offspring, liberty and justice. We know all too well where doing so leads. Nor can we indulge in unfettered anger and accusations, the stock in trade of the delusionists.
For better or worse, the high road has been left wide open.
That is where we must focus our energies. No matter how out of style, we must redouble our efforts to be accurate, to honor truth and verifiable historical facts. We cannot afford to leave them behind when they become difficult to bear.
From colleges to Congress, talking heads to graffiti, “social” media to high society, we will have ample opportunity to correct the falsehoods at the foundation of fascism. It is our business and responsibility to do so. We cannot count on others to advocate for us.
By working together, holding fast to one another, educating one another, and combining our talents, perspectives, and efforts, we can have a positive effect on our immediate community and even beyond.
But we must actually take action.
Yes, we need to think and talk. Then to create concrete accomplishments, we need to make concerted and sustained efforts.
Hope alone will not help. Prayer alone is wishful thinking.
All the good intentions in the world accomplish nothing unless we put our weight behind our words.